Boy Shot in Head at Fireworks Display Dies

A seven-year-old boy and his father were walking through a parking lot in Midlothian, Virginia, Thursday evening. The boy was a few steps behind his father, when he suddenly fell to the ground. There was some blood, and his father believed he had hit his head on the ground. This morning he died. He had been shot in the head, as they were walking to see a fireworks display.

When Brendon Mackey arrived at the hospital, doctors discovered a bullet wound in the top of his head.

“A large crowd had been gathering over by the reservoir to watch fireworks and a young boy, seven years old, was walking through the parking lot with his dad. He was a few step behind his dad and he [the boy] fell to the ground,” Chesterfield Police Capt. Brad Badgerow said. “Initially they thought he was just passed out. They saw some blood. They thought he may have hit his head.”

“When medical personnel were treating him, they found what they believe to be a bullet wound in the top of his head,” Badgerow said.

Police do not believe that the boy was intentionally shot, and that it came from a gun that was out of the immediate area.

“We don’t think this was an intentional shooting. We think that somebody in or around the Brandermill area was celebrating the Fourth of July. Unfortunately we think they were shooting a gun in a reckless manner and this young boy is a victim,” Badgerow said.

Police are asking for any information regarding someone firing a gun near the site.

“This is a terrible situation. We want to reach out to the public to appeal to everybody who may have any information on this at all,” Badgerow said. “Put yourself in the family’s shoes and think about how terrible it is that they are going through this tragedy and reach out to us so we can help them.”

A sad story of a father and son looking forward to a fireworks display as a stray bullet hits a seven-year-old boy in the head, and he dies.